Module Information

The purpose of this module is to help deepen your comprehension of the work that you will produce for the Portfolio and Exhibition 1 modules. Research and Process in Practice is predicated on the belief (fundamental to the School's philosophy) that innovation and a mature awareness regarding the nature of one's own practice can only be achieved by examining past achievements and contemporary practice in art. In undertaking this module you will be expected to develop an understanding of the historical, theoretical, and artistic background appropriate to your own fine art practice. In this context you will be encouraged to identify, measure, and comprehend your own intent and achievements in relation to past and present precedents. As a consequence, you should develop a greater intellectual grasp both of your own work and of the ideas and artists that bear upon it. The module will, in effect, enable you undertake research using your own work as a starting point. While the dissertation will emerge from a consideration of your own work, it is important to stress that this is a scholarly endeavour rather than either a biographical, journalistic, or diaristic form of writing. For this reason, you are expected to observe the same conventions for writing and publication as if this were a dissertation in Art History. You will also deliver an illustrated presentation based upon the dissertation at the end of the module. The implication, therefore, is that you should write with the clear Outcome of communicating to an audience.

In addressing past and present practices appropriate to your work, you will concentrate on a number of topics. Your supervisor will help you decide which of the following suggestions are appropriate to your own work. Understanding:

• movements, artists, ideas, and processes are currently most relevant to you
• the creative and cognitive processes that shape the evolution of an artwork.
• how to formulate and implement ideas, hypotheses, a framework, and a programme of work
• the interactive relationship between concept and form
• how other artists locate themselves in a historical and contemporary context, and use past art to comprehend their own
• how to rationalise and evaluate your achievements in relation to the work of other artists.
• how past and contemporary culture outside art influences your work and ideas
• how artists successfully communicate their ideas to an audience
• how your work should develop in the context of Exhibition 1, in the light of your findings

Bibliography
Michael Compton, Art as Thought Process, London: Arts Council, 1974.
Teresa Newman, Naum Gabo: The Constructive Process, London: Tate Gallery Publications, 1976.
Harold Morick, The Challenge to Empiricism, Belmont, California: Wadsworth, 1972.
Lois Swan Jones, Art Research Methods and Resources: A Guide to Finding Art Information, Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt, 1978.
Paula A. Baxter, Implementing Database Services for Art Research, Art Documentation, Spring 1987, pp. 16-18.
Ursula Meyer, Conceptual Art, New York: Dutton, 1972.
Norman Bryson (ed.), Visual Theory: Painting and Interpretation, London: Polity Press, 1991.
Sandy Nairne, State of the Art: Ideas and Images in the 1980s, London: Chatto and Windus/Channel 4, 1987.
E. H. Gombrich, Topics of Our Time: Twentieth Century Issues in Learning and Art, London: Phaidon, 1991.
Isaiah Berlin, Against the Current: Essays in the History of Ideas, London: Hogarth Press, 1979.
Harold Borko, Abstracting Concepts and Methods, New York: Academy Books, 1975.

The module should enable you to:
A. develop a specific program of research and a research methodology
B. develop a self-reflective approach to creativity
C. locate your work within an historical and contemporary discourse.
D. create an interface between the practice, theory, and history of Art.
E. undertake a systematic inquiry within a prescribed framework
F. form and test hypotheses
G. apply methods and techniques appropriate to the subject in rigorous, proficient, self-critical, and self-reflective ways
H. describe your practice in a way that is communicable to peers
I. justify and evaluate actions and decisions
J. prepare you for Exhibition 1

Syllabus

This structure is given for guidance only:

Stage 1 (Summer Vacation) Self-evaluation, composing a proposal and scheme of action

Stage 2 (Weeks 1-2) Defining your current and projected practice and developing a bibliography of primary and secondary sources appropriate to it (includes picture/literature research), and a programme of research development in consultation with your tutor

Stage 3 (Weeks 3-4) Implementing the programme and writing-up preliminary findings

Stage 4 (Weeks 5-7) Re-evaluating or refining the programme and writing-up findings

Stage 5 (Weeks 8-11) Implementing the programme in relation to practical work projected for Exhibition 1, and writing-up findings

Stage 6 (Christmas Vacation) Recording material, finalising the written element, and preparing for the Presentation

Stage 7 (Examination Period) Submission of Dissertation and Presentation